The past two weeks have been so full of life and surprises and furniture renewal.  Matthew bought me a new chair for my birthday.  As I sunk down into its beautiful grey comfort, I stared at my dresser.  Ugly couldn’t describe it fully.

So, in typical head-long fashion, I set off to remedy this problem.  I’ve been stung by many a bee in my bonnet.  The finished product:
Five birds flying from the nest, represent our five kiddos, with Matthew and I sticking together for life.  The tree has our initials carved in it, reminiscent of the tree at our old house where I carved our initials, about four years before we were even married.

Soon I will post pictures of how I didn’t stop at just the dresser, because once I saw how clean and new it looked, I thought the walls needed a face-lift as well.  This turned into a full-fledged makeover, which in turn led to another purging throughout the house.  Life multiplies in so many ways.

Our girls are growing up so quickly.

Last weekend our family went rock-climbing.  The last time we went, those little feet belonging to the orange shoes were inside my belly!

This time, they scaled the walls!

A couple of weeks ago we had a medieval feast with some friends from school.  We are finishing up studying medieval times in history.  So we ate chicken and potatoes off of our trenchers, and drank sparkling grape juice out of our goblets.  Wooden bowls, no utensils (except spoons) and costumes made our feast super memorable.

Other fun school activities included going to the Franklin Institute last week.  Our friend did a great job demonstrating an astronaut’s suit on a budget:
  
Elsie was chosen to shoot off a bottle rocket.  Her little self was so cute up there on the stage.
 
We had an amazing surprise that afternoon after our field trip.  More on that later.  Someone needs yogurt.  “Seriously, Mom,” she says to me.  (She’s three.)  “Just a little bit?”